1773 FIEST PEKIOD : CONCLUDED 159 



horses which run at Newmarket shall be ascertained 

 and vouched for by an expert ' at the ending post, 

 immediately after running ' (if it be the first time, and 

 unless the requisite examination has taken place be- 

 fore) ; that certain ' colours ' shall be adopted by cer- 

 tain owners (neither the colours nor the owners being 

 the same as those already specified for the year 1762, 

 which shows that the practice had ' caught on ' satis- 

 factorily) ; and that want of punctuality on the part 

 of ' grooms ' (when ' trainers ' did not figure so pro- 

 minently as now in racing matters) shall entail a fine 

 of ' five guineas each time,' to be paid to the Club. 

 The most important resolution (so far as the public 

 are concerned) is that concerning the certificate of 

 age, for in that resolution express mention is made of 

 two-year-olds, and express sanction given (by the 

 words used) to the novelty of two-year-old racing, the 

 responsibility for which has been saddled for so long 

 upon Sir Charles Bunbury (perhaps because he was 

 the single steward at the time when the innovation 

 commenced, though, as we have seen, he does not 

 seem to have been himself among the earliest runners 

 of two-year-olds), who was certainly elected one of 

 the stewards in this year (1770), when the number 

 was fixed at three, and when two-year-old racing was 

 officially sanctioned, but with Lord Bolingbroke and 

 Mr. Jenison Shafto to share the responsibility with 

 him. 



In 1771 there were passed and published five 



